My Opinion on Sports provides general thoughts and opinions on the world of sports. If you are a sports fan then we invite you to join our community. Share your opinions on the main posts during the week or start your own conversations in the forum.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Tim Couch was a bad pick for the Brown's but was he the worst of the 1999 NFL Draft?

With last weekend’s NFL draft still fresh on our minds we can speculate all we want about who was a hit and who was a miss but the truth is that no matter how much we think the Raiders blew it we won’t really know until we see these guys careers pan out. In 1999 the Cleveland Browns thought they had their franchise quarterback in Tim Couch. They couldn’t have been more wrong with the overall top pick in the draft. Meanwhile, Jeff Saturday went undrafted out of North Carolina and became a three-time Pro Bowl selection for the Indianapolis Colts.

Taking a stroll back to 1999 here are the hits and misses of the first round along with the steal of the draft and the overall worst pick.

1. Tim Couch, Cleveland Browns – Miss – Couch only played five NFL seasons, throwing 64 touchdowns to 67 interceptions.2. Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles – Hit – In eleven seasons McNabb has thrown 194 touchdowns to 90 interceptions, making the Pro Bowl five times and led the Eagles to a Super Bowl. He was also the 2004 NFL offensive player of the year.3. Akili Smith, Cincinnati – Miss – Smith only stayed in Cincy for four seasons before jumping around to the Packers and Buccaneers before finally washing out of the NFL in 2004.4. Edgerrin James, Indianapolis Colts – Hit – James was the offensive rookie of the year in 1999 and played seven seasons for the Colts rushing for 9,226 yards and 64 touchdowns. In his seven seasons for the Colts he made the Pro Bowl four times. 5. Ricky Williams, New Orleans Saints – Miss – The Saints traded up to select Williams as the fifth overall back but he never really fit in the Big Easy. He was gone just three seasons later with the highlight coming in the form off a cover photo for ESPN the Magazine.6. Torry Holt, Saint Louis Rams – Hit – In ten seasons with the Rams, Holt went to seven Pro Bowls and helped the team win the Super Bowl XXXIV.7. Champ Bailey, Washington Redskins – Hit – Bailey established himself as one of the leagues best shutdown corners. He was four-time Pro Bowl selection for the Skins before being traded to Denver in 2004 along with a second round draft pick for Clinton Portis.8. David Boston, Arizona Cardinals – Miss – Stayed in Arizona only four seasons and washed out of the NFL after playing for Tampa Bay in 2006.9. Chris Claiborne, Detroit Lions – Miss – Claiborne was gone from the motor city by 2002 and from the NFL in 2007.10. Chris McAlister, Baltimore Ravens – Hit – McAlister has racked up 339 tackles and 26 interceptions in ten seasons with the Ravens. He’s been to the Pro Bowl three times and helped the Ravens win Super Bowl XXV.11. Daunte Culpepper, Minnesota Vikings – Hit – With Randy Moss as Culpepper’s go-to guy he led the Vikings to the NFC championship game in 2000. Playing seven seasons in Minnesota, Culpepper made the Pro Bowl three times.12. Cade McNown, Chicago Bears – Miss – McNown only lasted two seasons in Chicago and four in the NFL. He threw 16 touchdowns to 19 interceptions during his short career.13. Troy Edwards, Pittsburgh Steelers – Miss– Edwards survived just three seasons in the Steel City before bouncing around to five other teams until 2007.14. John Tait, Kansas City Chiefs – Hit – Tait played five seasons for the Chiefs and made the Pro Bowl in 2001. He returned to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl again in 2006 as a member of the Chicago Bears.15. Anthony McFarland, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Hit – McFarland never made a Pro Bowl appearance but was a mainstay on a Bucs defensive line that won Super Bowl XXXVII.16. Jevon Kearse, Tennessee Titans – Hit – Kearse led the NFL in sacks in 1999 and was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. In five seasons for the Titans Kearse made the Pro Bowl three times.17. Damien Woody, New England Patriots – Hit – Woody was a Pro Bowl selection in 2002 and help anchor the Patriots’ offensive line when the won Super Bowls XXXVI and XXXVIII.18. Matt Stinchcomb, Oakland Raiders – Miss – When you spend a first round pick on an offensive lineman he’s got to stick around more than five years.19. Luke Petitgout, New York Giants – Hit – Played eight seasons for the Giants.20. Ebenezer Ekuban, Dallas Cowboys – Hit – Played five productive seasons for the Cowboys before leaving as a free agent after the 2003 season.21. L. J. Shelton, Arizona Cardinals – Hit– Shelton was a mainstay on the Cardinals offensive line for six seasons. He is currently with the Chargers.22. Lamar King, Seattle Seahawks – Miss – King has been out of the NFL since 2003 after a short injury plagued season.23. Antoine Winfield, Buffalo Bills – Hit – Played five productive seasons for the Bills before leaving as a free agent in 2004.24. Reggie McGrew, San Francisco 49ers - Miss – Was gone after the 2001 season.25. Antuan Edwards, Green Bay Packers – Miss – Played five injury plagued seasons for the Packers.26. Fernando Bryant, Jacksonville Jaguars – Hit – Played five productive seasons with the Jaguars. Bryant is currently with the Pittsburgh Steelers.27. Aaron Gibson, Detroit Lions – Miss – Only played in 16 games during three seasons with the Lions.28. Andy Katzenmoyer, New England Patriots – Miss – Only lasted two seasons in New England due to injury.29. Dimitrius Underwood, Minnesota Vikings – Miss– Underwood didn’t even make it through the 1999 training camp for the Vikings.30. Patrick Kerney, Atlanta Falcons – Hit – Played eight productive seasons for the Falcons and made the Pro Bowl in 2004. Kerney is currently with the Seattle Seahawks where he returned to the Pro Bowl in 2007.31. Al Wilson, Denver Broncos – Hit – Wilson was a five-time Pro Bowl linebacker for the Broncos. In eight seasons he recorded 580 tackles, 21.5 sacks and 5 interceptions.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

“This club never gives in. I feel blessed to be a part of it.” – Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia. With the aid of two grand slam homeruns by Ibanez and Ryan Howard, Philadelphia rallied for a 13-11 win over the Washington Nationals.

“The night definitely belongs to Matt Harrison. They got four off him in the first two innings, and he settled down, kept the team in it, gave us a chance to come back.” – Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington. After giving up four runs early against Baltimore, Harrison retired 16 straight batters to help the Rangers come from behind to win 6-4.

“The guy throws like 100 miles an hour. You have to put it your mind to try and hit a mistake. I got a fastball up over the plate, and I didn’t miss it.” – Jason Bay, Boston Red Sox. Bay hit a three run homerun off Cleveland’s Kerry Wood in the 9th inning to lift the Red Sox to a 3-1 win.

“When he’s ahead in the count, he’s almost unhittable. Tonight was the Justin we expect to see every night.” - Detroit catcher Gerald Laird. Justin Verlander pitched seven scoreless innings against the Yankees allowing only 7 hits with no walks to give the Tigers a 4-2 win.

“It’s kind of funny. It seems that even when I’m struggling, I start feeling better and I look up at the schedule and we have a trip in here. It’s weird how that happens.”Lance Berkman, Houston Astros. Berkman hit his 20th homer at Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, the most by any visiting player, and the Astros won their 10th consecutive game against the Reds on the road.

“There’s something going on out there. I got to find out. It’s only out there when we’re out there. It’s not out there when they’re out there.” – New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel. New York outfielders have already committed five errors this season. The Mets went on to beat the slumping Florida Marlins 7-1.

“You trust your defense. That’s why I throw that sinker no matter what time in the count, so they can hit it at somebody.” - Joel Pineiro, St Louis. With Monday’s 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves, Pineiro improved his record to 4-0.

“I felt like a fan, I was pretty fired up. Whenever you get an opportunity to watch the greatest closer to ever play the game pitch for your team, it’s exciting for us.” - Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers on watching closer Trevor Hoffman make his debut. The Brewers beat Pittsburgh 10-5.“The ball was slipping out of my hand the whole night. I really struggled getting a consistent release with it. At the same time, it was putting a real crazy spin on the ball. I throw my fastball without seams and it was literally slipping the whole night. The closest thing I can compare it to is the way a knuckleball pitcher throws. You don’t walk six and have an outing like that, but the ball was just moving all over the place all night. I just stuck with it and battled through it.”

“That’s not how I like to pitch. It was weird conditions, it was misting out there the whole night. So my hand was wet and he ball just sits there and gets wet.” - Brian Bannister, Kansas City Royals. Bannister pitched 7 innings, allowing one hit, against Toronto in the rain on Monday night. The Royals won 7-1.

“Both times I said, ‘Jimmy, go talk to him. You could see he was just on the verge of keeping it together or not. Big moments in the game, so I just thought it was the right time to go out there.” – Tampa Bay Manager Joe Maddon. Maddon sent pitching coach Jim Hickey to the mound twice to calm down starter Jeff Niemann who worked his way out of both jams to help lead the Rays to a 7-1 win over Minnesota.

“I told him, ‘Run until they stop you.’ He did. I don’t think they ever stopped him. I think he’s still running if we go look for him right now.” - Ryan Spilborghs, Colorado Rockies. Spilborghs’ teammate Dexter Fowler stole five bases against San Diego Monday night. The Rockies won 12-7.

“Today was just nice, because I looked around in the seventh, eighth inning, and guys were smiling on the bench, having fun. It’s a feeling I don’t think we really had the whole year.” - Dan Haren, Arizona Diamondbacks. Haren led the D-Backs past the Cubs 7-2 with a complete game performance.

“I just had a very productive out. That’s all.” - Bengie Molina, San Francisco. Molina hit a soft roller up the 3rd base side that scored teammate Edgar Renteria for the game winning run. The Giants beat the Dodgers 5-4.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Each parent has the right to choose what is best for their own kids but at what cost. Even before LeBron James could finish high school and make the jump to the NBA we were looking for the next phenom to take over. Kids making the jump directly to the pros through the process of bypassing college had become so routine that the NBA had to get a handle on it by implementing a minimum age rule. Now, a loophole has been found around that and the standard being set is alarming.

No longer facing a challenge amongst high school competition and not really excited about renting his services out for a year to a university (He had committed to Louisville), Tyler is packing his bags and heading to Europe. Not yet eligible for the millions waiting in the NBA he’s instead settling for the hundreds of thousands of European ball instead of staying and finishing at his high school.

There are going to be tons of people who are going to say, “Way to go Jeremy!” over this and I’m not sure that I wont be one of them but I still question the decision. What’s the difference between a high school aged kid launching a professional career in music or acting and a kid turning pro in sports? Obviously we don’t see it in happen in pro sports very often but does this set the trend or set a scary precedent? Seventeen year old kids don’t physically bang bodies with thirty year old men in the world of music and movies but they sure do in the world of professional basketball. Dominating high school competition is a world away from finding success in the pros and Tyler is about to travel to that world. I hope he collects as much as possible because this isn’t going to be a guarantee of NBA riches in the near future.

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Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Last summer I saw William “The Refrigerator” Perry doing a promotion at a minor league baseball game in Oklahoma City. My first thought when I saw him was that he didn’t look healthy. He was in a wheel chair and most disturbingly looked skinny. I spent the evening explaining to my 12-year old son how he was once an imposing force for the 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears and was actually larger than life in personality.

Turns out that my fears regarding his health were true. The Fridge has been diagnosed with a rare condition that occurs when immune system cells mistakenly attack nerve cells that support the muscles called Guillain-Barre Syndrome. He’s been hospitalized in a South Carolina hospital and is in serious condition.

I’ve never tried Perry’s barbecue sauce and I never looked at The Super Bowl Shuffle as anything more than a humorous attempt to capitalize on the fame the team earned on the football field. However, as a kid I did have the Fridge’s G.I. Joe action figure.

Perry conquered the football world with a Super Bowl Championship. He conquered the world of entertainment with several appearances on network shows and sitcoms as well as other celebrity events. He conquered the business world with the development of his own construction company. Here’s to hoping that he conquers this illness as well.

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Monday, April 20, 2009

“I didn’t take into account that I’d have to get above the fan to get the ball. I watched the replay and it looked like his glove was outstretched on top of mine. It all happened so fast.” - Trevor Crowe, Cleveland, on the possibility of fan interference when trying to rob New York’s Jorge Posada of a two-run homerun. The Yankees beat the Indians 7-3.

“He’s got a bright future. He reminds me of Santana a little bit, his body and his mannerisms, the way he throws. Santana’s got those broad shoulders like he’s got. He’s similar, he’s got a similar arm slot, similar delivery. He’s going to be good.” - Jack Cust, Oakland, on Toronto’s Ricky Romero who pitched 7 scoreless innings. The Blue Jays beat the A’s 1-0.

“I went in and told the guys that this was a great series here. Three well-played games. We scraped and we scratched. If we keep playing baseball like we played in this series, we’ll be fine. I was pleased with the effort and I told them so.” – Milwaukee manager Ken Macha after his team escaped being swept by the Mets with a 4-2 win on Sunday.

“I think it’s embarrassing. I think it’s unacceptable. I think our fans have every right to be mad like we are right now. We’re going to have a brand-new bullpen tomorrow, and if those guys who come in don’t get it done, we’re going to continue getting guys out of here.” – Washington manager Manny Acta on his bullpen after they blew their third consecutive game on Sunday, a 7-4 loss to the Florida Marlins.

“I always felt like that was one of the things I was better at, getting a timely hit, getting a big hit for the team and hopefully I can get back to that. We needed something like that to give us some momentum.” - Jeff Francoeur, Atlanta, after his three RBI performance against Pittsburgh on Sunday ended a 22-inning scoreless streak. The Braves beat the Pirates 11-1 on Sunday.

“They got me good. They got me real good and I was not ready for it. After a game like that I don’t care what they put in it. They can spit in it and I’ll take it.” - Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia, on his teammates giving him a shaving cream pie to the face after hitting the game winning homerun to down the San Diego Padres 5-4.

“That was the guy that I remember from last year.” – Jason Bay, Boston, on teammate Jon Lester’s seven shutout innings on Sunday. The Red Sox beat Baltimore 2-1.

“I just wanted to attack the hitters with whatever I was throwing out there and try to execute pitches. I found a rhythm and went after it.” - Gavin Floyd, Chicago White Sox, after striking out seven Tampa Bay batters and taking a shutout performance into the 7th inning.

“Anytime I can get in the box, I love it. I just like the opportunity.” – Cincinnati pitcher Micah Owings on hitting a two-run double against Houston. The Reds beat the Astros 4-2.

“Trying to get them to hit my pitches, and they weren’t able to do it. That’s what I try to do every time: Be efficient and get deep into a game, and right now it’s working out.” - Glen Perkins, Minnesota, after going eight innings, allowing only 1 run, against the LA Angels. The Twins won 3-1.

“It felt good. Hitting a home run was the last thing on my mind, facing a guy who’s got really good stuff. I was just thinking contact, get on base, and set the table for the guys behind me. It was cool … when it helps the team out, it’s always a good feeling.” - Michael Young, Texas, on completing a two-run rally against Kansas City with a 9th inning homerun.

“Sometimes you have to put blinders on when it comes to certain teams. I just wanted to pitch well. It’s nice to go out there and feel like I’m contributing after the last two starts.” - Randy Johnson, San Francisco, on taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning against his former team Arizona. The Giants beat the Diamondbacks 2-0.

“I’m pretty happy. I’m very enthusiastic and very happy about it, but from the team’s perspective, it’s one game.” - Rick Porcello, Detroit, After getting the first major league win of his career, an 8-2 win over Seattle.

“I felt pretty good about this club leaving spring training. I just felt we were going to score runs. But to get off to this kind of start is pretty good,” LA Dodgers manager Joe Torre after Sunday’s 14-2 win over the Rockies marked the team’s 10th win of the season and 8th in a row.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Kobe Bryant vs Deron Williams should be the fun matchup to watch in this series but it won’t come down to who is the better of the two guards (Bryant) the deciding factor will be Utah’s inability to have an answer for Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum inside.

Prediction: Lakers in 5

No. 2 Nuggets vs. No. 7 Hornets

Chauncey Billups gave the Denver Nuggets a new identity and now as the post season approaches he brings championship caliber leadership to a team that desperately needed it.

Prediction: Nuggets in 6

No. 3 Spurs vs. No. 6 Mavericks

Here’s where I’m picking a first round upset. The Spurs are without their King of the Flop, Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan isn’t healthy. The Spurs were better in the regular season but the Mavericks are the healthier team.

Prediction: Mavs in 7

No. 4 Blazers vs. No. 5 Rockets

Brandon Roy and Greg Oden are set to make their playoff debuts and I believe that they’ll make a splash. The Rockets are notoriously known for tanking in the first round and why I believe that Yao Ming and the Rockets wont lay down I do think they’ll go down fighting.

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Monday, April 13, 2009

“We talked about starting a pool or something of who would get there first in the dugout before the game. We probably would have if it had went one more day.” - Paul Konerko, Chicago White Sox, on he and Jermaine Dye reaching 300 homeruns in back-to-back at bats. The White Sox beat Detroit 10-6.

“It’s definitely a different feeling in here. It’s like J.R. (manager John Russell) said, what you need to do as a team is put yourself in position to win, and that’s what we’ve been doing.” - Adam LaRoche, Pittsburgh, After the Pirates 7-0 win over Houston boosted their record above .500 to 4-3.

“I was aware, but I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was still trying to focus on making quality pitches, not so much how am I going to protect that, you know protect the no-hitter.” - Ted Lilly, Chicago Cubs, on taking a no hitter into the 6th inning and leading the Cubs to a 4-0 win over Colorado.

“We’re going to figure it out. I don’t know if it’s going to be tomorrow or it’s going to be June. I promise: We’re going to figure it out.” - Adam Dunn, Washington, After the Nationals dropped their 7th consecutive game, a 9-8 loss to Philadelphia.

“Dodger fans can’t expect this every day. The cycle is very hard. First of all, getting a hit is hard.” - Orlando Hudson, LA Dodgers, after hitting through the cycle and leading the Giants to an 11-1 victory over San Francisco.

“It’s one of those days. It was their day, an opportunity to celebrate what they did last season, and they had their way.” - Derek Jeter, NY Yankees, after getting beat 15-5 by Tampa Bay in a game where the Rays had 17 hits.

“Very cool. Maybe at the end of the season when I look back on this, I’ll have a greater sense of what happened here. But at the time, all I’m thinking is that it put us ahead.” - Jody Gerut, San Diego, after hitting a leadoff homerun in the first at bat, ever, at Citi Field. The Padres spoiled the Mets home debut with a 6-5 win.

“We got a lucky break Kinsler didn’t try to tag up, or else we’d still be playing.” - Gregg Zaun, Baltimore, on the Texas Ranger’s Ian Kinsler failure to tag up at second base on a line drive to the outfield. Kinsler’s out killed a 9th inning rally for Texas.

“I just tried to look for something in the strike zone—hopefully a fastball because he got behind the other hitters. I hit it in the perfect spot.” - Edwin Encarnacion, Cincinnati, on his grand slam that capped a 6 run rally for the Reds to beat Milwaukee 7-6.

“Mainly the first and third innings were the ones that had me worried the most, but luckily I got out of it.” - Zack Greinke, Kansas City, after his five innings of work extended his pitching streak to 25 scoreless innings. The Royals beat Cleveland 4-2 on Monday night.

“There’s a certain level for the game that you try to have, but sometimes in those situations you kind of want to stand there and watch it. You just try and do what you can to put the bat down and run around the bases the right way. It’s one of those where it’s hard not to watch sometimes.” - Travis Snider, Toronto, After hitting two homeruns to lead the Blue Jays past the Twins 8-6.

Despite playing their first seven games at home the Arizona Diamondbacks are only 2-7 on the season. Their latest loss was a 2-1 decision at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night.

Oakland’s Kurt Suzuki has hit safely in all of his 13 career games against the Boston Red Sox. The A’s beat Boston 8-2 on Monday night.

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Sunday, April 12, 2009

“Whether you’ve been in the game 10 years or it’s your first time, you feel a little nervous. This game meant a lot because you don’t want to fall too far back.” - Kerry Wood, Cleveland, After striking out the side in 13 pitches in the 9th inning for the Indians first win of the season. Cleveland beat Toronto 8-4 on Sunday.

“I was able to get guys out when I needed them, but I threw too many pitches. This is frustrating, because we start with a sweep at home and then get swept here.” - Kevin Millwood, Texas, After Sunday’s 6-4 loss to Detroit completed a sweep for the Tigers.

“I said before the game I was going to go eight or nine innings. I finished what I started out to do. That’s huge for me.” - Josh Johnson, Florida, after pitching a complete game against the NY Mets on Sunday. The Marlins beat the Mets 2-1.

“They knew I was throwing strikes. I was hitting my spots on the outside corner, but keeping them honest on the inside part of the plate. They couldn’t lean out over the plate.” - Aaron Harang, Cincinnati, After throwing a complete game shutout against Pittsburgh.

“We have to forget this ever happened.” - Scott Olsen, Washington, After Sunday’s 8-5 loss to Atlanta left the Nationals 0-6 on the season.

Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria went 3-for-5 from behind the plate on Sunday with a homerun. He now leads the majors with 5 homers.

“He was just asking me how I do it. He said, ‘I look up there in the first inning and I see a pitch 78 miles an hour. I don’t know how you get guys out.”’ – Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox, discussing his on the mound conversation with manager Ozzie Guillen. Chicago beat Minnesota 6-1 on Sunday.

“I blew the game. I didn’t give myself a chance by getting ahead of the hitters. When you don’t do that, you give them a chance. I don’t have any excuses. I stunk it up pretty bad and ended up costing Joba a win.” - Phil Coke, New York Yankees, after giving up the winning run to Kansas City in New York’s 6-4 loss on Sunday.

“I try not to think about it like that. I’m privileged that they thought that much of me to give me a four-year deal. That’s part of the job, to go out there and be professional about it, get your work done even when no one’s looking.” - Kyle Lohse, St. Louis, When asked about his new 4 year $41 million deal he got in September. After Sunday’s 3-0 win over Houston Lohse is 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA.

“That’s a tough job to do, and he does it pretty good. Hitting a pinch-hit home run is pretty hard, especially when they know what kind of hitter he is.” - Phillies manager Charlie Manuel on pinch-hitter Matt Stairs’ game winning two run homerun in the 9th inning to beat Colorado 7-5.

“I’ve never hit anybody in the head, and it’s not really on my list of stuff to accomplish. But people can think what they want to think. I know Bobby Abreu. He knows I’m not trying to hit him in the head. Obviously, there’s been a lot of emotion in this series with them—not only facing us, but obviously the tragedy that all of them went through.” – Josh Beckett, Boston, after a wild pitch, over the head of Abreu, caused a bench clearing brawl. The Angels beat the Red Sox 5-4 on Sunday.

“A lot of people out there don’t have high expectations for us. It is a long season. We’ll temper the excitement. But I think it is good for us to get some confidence and really believe in ourselves.” - Chris Young, San Diego, after the Padres sweep of San Francisco moved their record to 5-2.

“You see the other guy throwing zeros and you want to do the same.” - Erik Bedard, Seattle, after winning a pitching duel against Oakland’s Trevor Cahill 1-0.

“They could have gotten the fourth out with an appeal at third base, but they didn’t do that before leaving the field. We had about six rules involved here.” - Umpire Charlie Reliford on Arizona’s failure to appeal a run scored by the Dodgers’ Andre Ethier in which he failed to tag up.

“What a great play. This kid, he’s a ballplayer— old-fashioned, hard-nosed ballplayer.” – Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella on Reed Johnson’s leaping catch over the wall that robbed Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder of a grand slam. The Cubs won 8-5.

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Friday, April 10, 2009

Another gun toting thug NFL football player has fallen under the wrath of Commissioner Roger Goodell. Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch was suspended, on Thursday, without pay for the first three regular season games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

Labels can be harsh and often unfair but if something looks, sounds and acts like a duck then it must be…well you know. Lynch was involved in a hit-and-run incident in Buffalo last May and then pleaded last month to a misdemeanor gun charge in Los Angeles last month. Don’t want to be labeled a thug then don’t act like one.

How many times do we have to see a Tank Johnson or Marshaen Lynch face legal action or get suspended by the league before the lesson is learned? How many people need to be injured by firearms before Plaxico Burress and the rest of the NFL’s gun toting crew get the message that it’s stupid and unsafe? I’m not buying the whole protection argument either. These guys are multimillionaires. Either hire protection or don’t travel to places where it’s necessary to carry a gun to feel safe. Well, the later would rule out playing the Raiders in Oakland.

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Thursday, April 09, 2009

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was spectacular Wednesday night in pitching six scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics. Just a few hours after the game his life was cut short when the vehicle he was driving in was struck by a suspected drunk driver. Two of Adenhart’s friends also perished in the accident.

The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me. The drunk driver fled from the scene of the accident and then was captured about a half hour later. This idiot needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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Wednesday, April 08, 2009

“Opening day, there’s a lot of emotions. No matter how long you’ve played the game, you still get jittery, you still get that nervous excitement.” – Jim Thome, Chicago White Sox, on Tuesday’s season opener where he hit a 3-run homerun in the eighth inning to lead Chicago past Kansas City 4-2.

“When you’re a Cy Young winner, there’s going to be a target on your back.Milwaukee was trying to get aggressive, and they’ve got a good power team. They probably wanted to do as many things as they could to me.” - Tim Lincecum, San Francisco, after struggling from the mound in the Giants 10-6 win over Milwaukee.

“He did not make it easy for us. On an opening day, he looked like his old self.” – Joe Madden, Tampa Bay Manager, on the Opening Day performance of Boston pitcher Josh Beckett.

“You always want to get off to a good start, but you can’t repeat until you play 162 games,” – Jamie Moyer, Philadelphia, after Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to Atlanta dropped the Phillies to 0-2.

“This is not what to expect during the year for anyone watching on the outside. This is more of a fluke, last year was more of habit. You won’t see this that much.”“We’re too good of a ballclub with too good of an attitude for this to happen on a daily basis.” - Brandon Inge, Detriot, After Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to Toronto gave the Tigers an 0-2 start to the season.

“Nothing good, nothing good, from the start of the game it was an uphill climb for us. Then, it just got worse.” - Scott Olsen, Washington, after the Nationals were hammered 8-3 by Florida on Tuesday.

“(Ryan) Dempster did a nice job. He gave us six good innings. We just didn’t score any runs.” – Lou Piniella, Chicago Cubs manager, on the performance of his starting pitcher in the Cub’s 3-2 loss to Houston.

“It felt like we beat the White Sox. I was expecting champagne to be in the air when I got in the clubhouse, but it was only the first one of the season.” - Denard Span, Minnesota, on the Twins first win of the season, a 6-5 decision over Seattle.

“I wouldn’t want to pitch against us right now. Hopefully, we can have more nights like tonight.” - Kyle Lohse, St Louis, on the Cardinals offense after Tuesday’s 9-3 win over Pittsburgh. The Cardinals had 12 hits, including three 2-run homers, against the Pirates.

“I saw 97s. I saw 98s. You try to make him get the ball down, because you are not going to do much with your bat up in the zone. He’s a tough guy to get the bat on.” – Bob Melvin, Arizona Manager, on Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. Colorado bead the Diamondbacks 3-0 on Tuesday night.

“You could just feel everybody kind of relax. We pushed that first run across and it was like, `OK, now we’re on the board. Now we can go. We’re not going to be shut out again.’“Once we did that, I think everything started to take off.” - Jason Giambi, Oakland, on the A’s offensive performance Tuesday night. Oakland plated 6 runs on 16 hits in their 6-4 win over the L.A. Angels.

“All game I was falling behind in the count I have to make better pitches, especially in situations with runners on.” - Randy Wolf, L.A. Dodgers, on losing to his former San Diego teammates, 4-2, Tuesday night.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

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New York Mets Ace Johan Santana has now gone 18 consecutive starts without a loss and with their 2-1 win over Cincinnati on Monday the Mets Opening Day record now stands at an MLB best 31-17.

“There’s that quiet confidence about this team. Not many people share that with us, but that’s OK. We believe in each other. That’s how it felt before the game, during the game and after the game.” – Texas Rangers Opening Day pitcher, Kevin Millwood after the Rangers 9-1 victory over Cleveland.

“It was a heavyweight fight out there. It was blow after blow. Every time we scored, they scored, and we finally had the last say.” – Arizona first baseman Chad Tracy after the Diamondbacks beat Colorado 9-8 in a game that featured eight homeruns including the game winner off the bat of Tracy.

What can you buy for $341 million? If you are the Yankees that is the cost of an Opening Day loss after tying up $180 million in Mark Teixeira and $161 million in CC Sabathia. Teixeira went hitless and Sabathia didn’t make it through the fifth inning of the Yankees 10-5 loss to Baltimore.

“He’s the fastest guy I’ve ever seen in my life.” - Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez on teammate Emilio Bonifacio who hit an in the park homerun in the Marlin’s 12-6 win over Washington. It was the first in the park on Opening Day since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski did it in 1968.

“That first one, he blew by me pretty easily. Then I kind of stayed back and it felt pretty good. Just try to get it out there, put it in play, and then you have a chance.” – Pittsburgh shortstop Jack Wilson after hitting a game winning three-run double in the 9th inning against St. Louis.

“That’s as good of a lineup that you’ll face—a little bit of everything. That’s a team to be reckoned with.” – San Diego Padres pitcher Jake Peavy after suffering his first loss to the Dodgers since September of 2003.

Chicago Cubs hurler Carlos Zambrano went into the seventh inning and struck out six batters in leading the Cubs to a 4-2 victory over the Houston Astros. It broke a four year opening day losing streak for Zambrano.

“Both of them were pretty close. If it hits you in the head, it could do some damage. After the second one I said, ‘That’s enough.”’ – Toronto outfielder Josh Anderson on Detroit fans throwing baseball at him during the Tigers 12-5 loss to the Blue Jays.

Seattle Manager, Don Wakamatsu, is the leagues first Asian-American manager and scored his first career win Monday night in the final Opening Day game at the Metrodome. Ken Griffey Jr. hit a homerun in his first game back in a Mariners uniform to help lead Seattle to a 6-1 win over the Twins.

“Give the defense an A-plus, it was an honor just for me to be out there. Then the fans gave me a standing ‘O.’ It was special.” – Angels Opening Day pitcher Joe Saunders after a 3-0 decision over Oakland.